On-board GPS systems and vehicle electronic identifiers, such as electronic serial numbers (ESNs) or vehicle identification numbers (VINs) can be utilized to track a vehicle. Of course this raises both personal and legal privacy concerns. If a software process or an entity is tracking a vehicle, they may be legally obligated or advised to provide a disclaimer to a tracked party within the vehicle. Additionally or alternatively, it may be advisable to notify a party that one or more connected services is tracking a vehicle, so that the party doesn't feel like their privacy is being violated.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,881,940 generally relates to a system that has a speech control interface operable to provide a speech sequence to which a user response is required before system functionality is operational. A user response can be provided via a spoken command. The system is operable, in response to interruption of the speech sequence to permit a non-verbal user response using an alternative interface.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,285,453 generally relates to a vehicle navigation aid (nav-aid) system and method that provide un-lock nav-aid functions in a moving vehicle. Sensors within the vehicle provide vehicle speed S and whether a person other the driver is present. For S greater than predetermined threshold speed Sth≧0, the nav-aid system remains in a locked-out state if a passenger is not present. When a passenger is present, then the system may accept some otherwise locked-out nav-aid requests. A warning and disclaimer message requiring positive acknowledgement thereof is desirable. In a preferred embodiment, the passenger should occupy a front seat and have a weight or size or both exceeding a predetermined (e.g., “adult”) threshold. Desirably, navigation aid access is precluded for S>Sth unless the occupied seat belts are latched. In a further embodiment, a user access status display indicates which nav-aid functions can be accessed depending on the vehicle status.